Thursday, September 24, 2009

More Time on the Range

I had a little more time to get in some range time and work on my .360 Dan Wesson loads for my .357 Handi-Rifle this week. Things went pretty well.

I got a message from a reader recently and he suggested my 17 grain load of Lil' Gun with a 180 grain Hornady XTP was about the minimum, and I tend to think he is correct. My dad and I had already concluded that the case mouth fouling on my earlier test loads of 15 and 16 grains of Lil' Gun were caused by not having enough pressure to expand the case mouth and seal the chamber.

Now I needed to try some hotter loads. I loaded up 18, 19 and 20 grain loads and tested them. All appeared to function normally. Cases extracted like normal and primers were no more flattened than with the lighter charges. Accuracy with the 18 grain loads appeared to be about the same as what I got with 17 grains, about 2" groups at 75-80 yards. I'm still not overly impressed with that, but I still haven't had a chance to shoot off a good rest. As the charge increased, the point of impact moved higher, as you might expect.

If I get reasonable groups, I'm thinking I will stick with the 19 grain loads for now as it should have plenty of power to kill a deer and with all my other obligations, I'm running out of time before the season starts.

So far, that leaves us with this: 17 Grains of Lil' Gun with 180 grain XTP's and Winchester small pistol magnum primers is the minimum load. 20 grain loads of Lil' Gun appear to be perfectly safe in my Handi-Rifle, showing no negative results. My other conclusion is that if I can get better groups, this will be my all time favorite rifle. It is a joy to shoot and can be used for anything we have in Mississippi, including small game hunting with light .38 loads.

I'm figuring another afternoon or two of shooting and the next stop will be a deer stand.

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About Me

Name:Brian Albert Broom

Outdoors - The Clarion-Ledger

I grew up hunting and fishing in Nashville, Tenn., tagging along behind my father and older brother before I was old enough to carry a gun or use a rod and reel. I started so early, I can’t remember ever not hunting and fishing.

Now living in Miss., the smallmouth bass and rainbow trout of Tenn. have given way to bluegill and crappie with the occasional trip for specks and reds and hunting season is mostly focused on deer with a few ducks thrown in for good measure.

With all that said, I still think there is nothing more fun than sitting on a bream bed with a couple of tubes of crickets and watching the cork go down as a big bull hammers it. My father, son and Bobby Cleveland will all tell you, I can do it all day long.